


Oh me I fall in love with you every single day

by justanoutlaw



Series: Femslash February 2021 [16]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anniversary, Anthology, Emma Swan is Not Henry Mills's Parent, F/F, Fluff, Infertility, Old Age, Old Married Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29691486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/pseuds/justanoutlaw
Summary: Not every anniversary is a dozen roses and a romantic, candlelit dinner. Sometimes it's just takeout in your pajamas with a fussy baby. Sometimes it's being rained in at a dive bar on the Cape. Others are huge parties with your huge family. These are just some of the years that Mary Margaret and Regina have celebrated together.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard
Series: Femslash February 2021 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137281
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Oh me I fall in love with you every single day

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 24 of Femslash February: change/old/marriage

They celebrate it every February 28th. The day that they said “I do”. Regina wore a beautiful silver ballgown, traditional and unique at the same time. Mary Margaret’s mermaid style dress with tiny beads along the skirt shimmied the night away. A portrait of the two on that day hangs in every home they enter. They stand on the dance floor that the staff of the botanical gardens set up, Regina’s arm wrapped firmly around Mary Margaret’s waist as their foreheads touch, gazing lovingly into one another’s eyes.

It’s hung above their tiny TV in their apartment on their first anniversary. They’re still paying off the wedding and saving for their first house, so Mary Margaret suggests they follow the traditional first year gift: paper. After a homecooked meal of spaghetti and meatballs, the first tier of their strawberry shortcake thawed and a bottle of wine, they open their gifts from one another.

Regina crafts a coupon book, promising to do certain chores on Mary Margaret’s night to do them and some naughtier stuff (there’s one to be redeemed for a fantasy of her wife’s choice), along with just “good for 1 foot rub” or “good for 1 bubble bath”.

Mary Margaret is smiling and giggling as she flips through it, redeeming one that’s good for a cuddle on the couch while they watch a movie. As “A Walk To Remember” plays out on the screen, she gives Regina her gift. It’s a map detailing where they’ve been so far: Harvard University where the two met, a trip to Italy a year into dating, Storybrooke, Maine where they’d eventually settle down and finally, there’s a pin in Boothbay where they wed.

“We can add to it too,” Mary Margaret whispers, lacing her fingers through Regina’s. “This is just the start of our adventure.”

Regina smiles up at her, tracing the shape of her lips. “Of course.”

****

Their second anniversary, they’ve moved into a cute house just 10 minutes away from the school where Mary Margaret is a teacher and a quick walk to Regina’s law firm. Their wedding portrait sits proudly above their mantle place with the map to the right of it, a compass on the other. It’s another year where they’re strapped for cash and know that they shouldn’t go all out. So, they agree to fall into the second-year tradition: cotton.

This time, they splurge and get takeout from their favorite Thai place and Regina buys a bottle of wine on her way home.

Mary Margaret finds a beautiful blanket for her wife, who tends to run cold. She throws in a pair of fuzzy socks and a box of her favorite tea. Regina goes along the selfcare route once more and presents her with a cotton eye mask, Mary Margaret’s favorite bubble bath and a box of fine dark chocolates from their go-to shop at the local mall. Mary Margaret offers her some of the box as they tune into a Seinfeld rerun, feeding her pieces as they sip their wine and pick at the noodles. Both have to work in the morning and will fall into bed in just a few hours.

“Next year,” Regina vows. “Something special.”

Mary Margaret shrugs. “Anywhere with you is special.”

Regina playfully rolls her eyes and ungracefully slurps up another noodle. “I’m serious. Next year, we won’t be saving up for anything. We’ll go on a trip, anywhere you want.”

Mary Margaret tilts her head, taking a sip of her wine as she considers it. “I’ve always wanted to see London.”

Regina grins, pecking her lips. “London it is.”

****

The next year, they are doing a lot better financially. Regina’s made partner at her firm and Mary Margaret’s started a tutoring business on the side. They manage to squirrel away a week for their third anniversary and head to the English capital. They see the historical sights so both of their nerd brains can practically orgasm at all of the things they looked at in books for years. They eat proper fish and chips, going to fancier restaurants at night. Mary Margaret buys a cheesy shirt with the flag that reads “I Heart London” along with a toy double decker bus. Regina opts to pay some duty on the chocolates she won’t be able to get in America.

After a filling dinner at Chiltern Firehouse, they walk the streets. They’ve already exchanged presents that morning. Regina received a beautiful Saint Laurent briefcase for work, her old one has seen better days. Mary Margaret was overjoyed to receive her gorgeous watch attached to a pink leather strap. She’s always paranoid about the time and the clock in her classroom only works about half the time. It’s secured tightly to her wrist as they stroll down the sidewalk, the sun setting above.

As they turn a corner, the two get a look at the most adorable family. A little girl with golden curls sits on her father’s shoulder, babbling a mile a minute. The mother is pushing a double pram, with two sleeping baby boys inside. Mary Margaret stops so they can cross the street and the little girl blows her a kiss, which makes her father laugh. The woman stares at them as they disappear out of sight, feeling Regina squeeze her arm.

  
“What if by our next anniversary,” she whispers into Mary Margaret’s ear. “We had a little one of our own?”

Mary Margaret meets her dark brown eyes, filled with sincerity. Kids have always been on their list, but it’s not as easy as the typical couple. They wanted to wait until Regina made partner, they had the right house, they were making enough.

And now, there doesn’t seem to be anything standing in their way.

“It’s something I’m willing to discuss,” Mary Margaret replies with a soft smile.

****

They do a round of IUI a month after they return from England. After looking through several books, they find who they believe to be the perfect sperm donor. Regina was forced to get a hysterectomy in her early 20s after a medical scare, so Mary Margaret is their option. She goes through the procedure and despite the doctor laying odds, she’s hopeful.

It’s heartbreaking when they get a negative test.

They repeat the procedure five more times, eventually having to turn to a different sperm donor. The doctor suggests they take a break around their fourth anniversary. Regina has to work that night and Mary Margaret spends it grading. They send each other flowers and promise to go out that weekend, but it’s still bittersweet. They’re quieter as they settle into bed that night, Regina’s words of sharing a child this anniversary washing over them both.

The next few attempts don’t go as planned either and they choose to take a break themselves, for emotional and financial reasons. It grows hard for Mary Margaret to be around her students, especially when one becomes a big brother. Regina swallows her pain every time another colleague announces they or their spouse is expecting.

Mary Margaret mentions trying again a little over a month before their fifth anniversary. Regina is hesitant but agrees. This is the last time, if it doesn’t work, they’ll look into other options. It’s only been two years of trying, but it’s still taken a toll on them. They’ve always wanted to adopt and still plan to, regardless. It just might happen before they planned it. Regina almost debates telling her to wait until after their anniversary, but she knows they have something to look forward to.

6 weeks later, the two head into the neighboring town for dinner at a seafood restaurant. Back at home, Regina gifts Mary Margaret a charm for her Pandora bracelet. It’s a bright red apple and will bring some color to the collection. She tears off the wrapping of her own gift. A wooden frame contains a piece of yellow cardstock. White cursive letters spell out: “You are magic”. Regina looks up at her wife, tilting her head. It’s pretty, but not exactly her stile. Mary Margaret simply shrugs, but the smile on her face gives it all away.

“Figured we could hang it in the nursery.”

Regina’s hands shake around the sign. “Do you mean…”

“Next anniversary, we will for sure have a baby to snuggle.”

The frame falls to their coffee table with a quiet thud as Regina throws her arms tightly around her wife, hot tears falling down her cheeks.

***

They’ve stopped looking into what every anniversary means, but it doesn’t mean that they’re not spot on in year 6. Mary Margaret is still on maternity leave and with a 4-month-old baby, she doesn’t have the time to shop. While she’s out grocery shopping with Emma in a sling on her chest, she finds a case of chocolate covered apples in the refrigerated section. Regina will stop by the same market that night after a long day in court, grabbing a card and a couple of Apollo bars before grabbing some pizza and heading home.

Emma lays in her swing once she enters the living room. She lowers the box and bags, scooping her daughter up. Spit up encrusts her purple onesie, the golden fuzz atop her head has a few specks of lint from the hat she was inevitably wearing earlier. Regina presses a kiss to her forehead, smiling at the tiny coos that escape from her daughter’s lips. She takes in her adorable features, from her big green eyes that seem to almost bulge out of her head, to Mary Margaret’s chin. Regina briefly worried if she could love a child that didn’t come from her own blood, but the minute Emma was placed in her arms…all of those fears melted.

Mary Margaret walks in the room, wearing a pair of sweats and Regina’s Joan Jett t-shirt. She’s got spit up of her own on her shoulder, her once long brown curls were cut into a pixie cut last month, once Emma got a firm grasp on them. It’s easier to take care of and Regina’s got to admit she likes her wife with short hair.

“And how are my girls today?” Regina asks, giving her wife a peck on the cheek.

Mary Margaret scrubs her eyes. “She took a long nap this afternoon, that’s about the highlight. And yours?”

Regina thinks about her client, the incompetent opposing counsel and the fact that she had to work straight through lunch. “Better now.”

“I’m glad. Hey, could you hold her so I can shower? Then we can devour the pizza and you can put on whatever you want.”

“Seriously? Anything? Even Nightmare on Elm Street?”

“I’d kill to watch anything that’s not Baby Einstein.”

A loud laugh escapes Regina’s lips as her wife ascends the stairs.

***

They plan a trip for their tenth anniversary. Nothing fancy, just a quick ride down to the Cape. Their friends Mal and Kathryn have a place down there, they offered it up to them. The day they’re set to leave, 4-year-old Emma comes down with a case of strep and recently adopted 3-month-old Henry has an ear infection. As needed as the getaway is, their kids need them more. Mary Margaret calls her father-in-law to cancel. She spends the night bringing Emma chicken noodle soup and softly blowing into Henry’s ears, remembering her own mother doing the same when she was younger. Regna nips to the pharmacy and returns with some medicine for the kids, a plush swan for Emma and a case of beer for the adults. They manage to get a few sips in as they sit side by side, Emma in Mary Margaret’s arms while Regina rubs soothing circles onto Henry’s back.

The following year, they plan to get away once more but that’s when Emma breaks her arm. The next, they’re preparing for their third and final child.

Their decade celebration takes place in the unlucky 13th year. All of the kids are fine, Emma’s managed to avoid illness or injury. Henry’s happy to spend the weekend with his grandfather, telling him everything he needs to know about his 6-month-old brother, Neal.

Everything that could go wrong, does. They get a flat on the way down to the Cape. The lock to the cabin is broken and they have to call a locksmith, freezing their asses off in the car until the hour that he can arrive. Once inside, they discover a family of raccoons that have taken up shelter since their friends have been there last. After screaming and calling for help, they end up in a hotel for the night. On their actual anniversary, it rains, ruining the idea of a winter wonderland hike. The restaurant they planned with months in advance, loses their reservation and they find themselves at a dive bar, nursing shitty beers and a pile of cold onion rings. Even so, Regina raises her glass.

“If I have to go through all of this crap with anyone, I’d rather it be you.”

Mary Margaret lifts her own, clinking it with hers. “Amen to that.”

***

The next dozen years are a blur of fancy dinners, trips and gifts that will never stick out as their hair grows gray. Regina leaves Gold and Son’s, starting her own firm. Mary Margaret goes back to school to obtain her doctorate, eventually becoming principal of the school where she once helped students build birdhouses and learn how to multiply. Their kids grow older, Emma taking a gap year to travel. Henry is in his freshman year of high school, going through all the mood swings you’d expect from a teenager. Their sweet, nerdy Neal is entering his own adolescence, blasting rock music and replying to them in grunts. It’s not their favorite part of parenting, but they’ve learned with Emma it leads to some great talks.

Initially against a party, they relent and let Kathryn and Mal throw them a small one. Their co-workers, friends and family come. Emma is home from backpacking around Europe, announcing plans to go to Storybrooke College to take some criminal justice courses. Henry is already making his own plans for college; Ithaca is his top choice. Regina and Mary Margaret try not to think about the distance, there’s still four years before that’s a possibility. Neal is just happy to find another kid, son of their friend Aurora, to talk comic books with.

As everyone eats Eugena Lucas’ catered chicken and sips the best drinks mixed by Lacey, Mary Margaret and Regina sit at their table, quietly exchanging their gifts. Regina receives a locket with a picture of their kids on one side, another of the two wives in England all those years ago. Mary Margaret instantly slides the silver bangle above her charm bracelet, looking lovingly into her wife’s eyes.

  
“25 years,” she whispers.

“Think we’ll make it another 25?” Regina asks, tracing some of the wrinkles on her wife’s face.

“I don’t know, these kids might put us in an early grave.”

Much has changed about Regina. She dyes her hair to hide the grays, her anniversary present last year (selected by herself) was a round of Botox. Still, there are the subtle signs of aging, like how she can’t have more than one cup of coffee a day or the way she grunts when she bends down to pick something out.

Yet that laugh, that deep, roaring laugh that can be heard across the room remains the same.

***

They do indeed make it another 25. In that time, they watch their children go off to college and find their way in the world. Emma raises through the ranks and becomes sheriff, traveling with her husband, Bae (short for Bailey) when they can. Henry returns from Ithaca having eloped with his girlfriend, Jacinda. They welcome Mary Margaret and Regina’s first grandchild, Lucy. They remain in Storybrooke, Henry getting a job at the local newspaper. Despite all their travel, Emma and Bae remain close too, starting to foster kids after their own fifth anniversary. Neal chooses to move to Manhattan after college, becoming a teacher just like his own mother. It’s hard for the wives to have their baby so far away from home, but it gives them an excuse to visit one of their favorite places.

Regina retires after their 30th anniversary, turning to teaching at the local college for another 10. Just two weeks before their 42nd, Mary Margaret closes the book on her own career and passes the torch to her younger colleague, Jasmine. They travel together, adding more dots to the map that Mary Margaret purchased for them for their first anniversary. Greece, Japan, even a safari in Africa, they try to see it all.

A month following their 45th anniversary, they make the difficult choice to sell the house they raised a family in. It’s getting hard for Mary Margaret to climb the stairs and it’s just too much space. Jacinda and Henry purchase it, expecting their second child together. They’re relieved that it’ll stay in the family. Together, the wives pick a smaller house further away from the square. It’s a two-bedroom, ranch style with a huge yard for the grandkids and enclosed porch with a firepit for winter nights.

It’s on that very porch, in their new home, where they celebrate their golden anniversary. Their grandkids run in and out of the house, chowing down on food while the kids joke with their spouses. Neal has brought a date, Phillip Jr, the very kid he bonded with 25 years ago at their other party. His boyfriend has a child of his own. It’s still early, but Mary Margaret can tell she’ll gain a new grandbaby soon and perhaps, her son will return to Storybrooke. He keeps saying how much he misses the quiet of small-town life. Henry’s got an arm around Ella’s baby bump, they’ll be done after child number three, just like his moms. Emma and Bae are close by, snuggled up together, watching their latest placement-13-year-old Nikki-play with Lucy. Many kids have come and gone from their home; all have been considered a part of the Blanchard-Mills family. Yet, Regina knows that this child will be the one to share their last name.

They exchange jewelry made of gold, but leave it behind as Mary Margaret grabs hold of her cane and follows Regina to the middle of the porch. She’s given up hiding her age, saying it’s just too hard. Her salt and pepper bob compliments the wrinkles that line her face. Mary Margaret’s grown out her own hair once more, her silver locks falling at her shoulders. Clutching her cane with one hand, she wraps her free arm around Regina’s waist and rests her forehead against her wife’s. Much of Regina has changed, but those beautiful eyes remain the same.

In the distance, Jacinda snaps a photograph. It’ll replace the compass beside their original wedding portrait in the main hall of their home. That map on the other side is littered with the places they’ve spent together since their first meeting 55 years earlier. That’s where it’ll stay for another 9.

****

Mary Margaret’s memory is not what it used to be, no one expects it to be at 87. Even so, February 28th sticks out in her mind as she slowly makes her way across the snow-covered grass. Henry’s hand on the small of her back steadies her in a way the cane can’t these days. Neal’s arm is linked through hers, while Emma stands on her other side.

When they reach the stone, Emma quickly wipes off the wet slush. Mary Margaret’s fingers tremble around the rose in her hand from the cold and old age, her thick glasses focusing on the words.

**Regina Marie Blanchard-Mills**

**Wife. Mother. Friend.**

They said they’d make it until their 60th, that Regina would last until her 90th birthday. God had other plans. Three weeks after their 59th anniversary, the live-in nurse their children hired discovered Regina didn’t awake from her nap. After 64 years together, all the promises she kept, this was just one her body wouldn’t allow her.

Their wedding portrait now stays above Mary Margaret’s bed in her room at Henry’s house (the kids decided it’d be best for her to move in with him, Jacinda, Lucy, Mat and Xiomara after everything). The map is propped up against the ugly floral lamp on her nightstand, no new dots to be marked.

The rose slowly falls from Mary Margaret’s hands. She wishes she had remembered the bottle of wine before they left the house, though she’s not supposed to drink on her medication. A soft smile goes across her face, Regina’s laugh forever imprinted in her memory.

“Sixtieth anniversary is diamond,” she murmurs softly, her voice cracking. No one ever explained that old age comes with a second puberty of sorts. She’s shrunk a couple of inches, her voice strains and she has mood swings like no other. Her kids are ever patient, just as she was when they were going through their teen years. “Can’t give you anything baby, but I did give your ring to the kids. Whichever grandchild marries first will get it.”

A harsh wind blows over them and Emma fusses over Mary Margaret, wrapping a cardigan around her already heavy peacoat. She allows it, knowing how much the kids worry. She keeps her eyes on the grave, letting out the breath she’s held in since the car.

“Until we can spend another together,” she whispers, blowing a gentle kiss.


End file.
